


The Outlier Representative

by Yami_Kada7



Series: Link Up [11]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Genre: Day 11, Fear of losing, How will Yusaku escape socializing?!, Naoki and Takeru are idiots, Naoki is unaware that he is an idiot, Other YGO Characters in VRAINS, Rua wants a hot dog, Takeru really should know better by now, Takeru's delinquent days shine through, The cameos have arrived!, Three Things, Tournaments, VRAINS Week 2018, Yay suggestions are open!, Yusaku should probably run
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-21
Updated: 2018-09-02
Packaged: 2019-06-14 01:41:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15377892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yami_Kada7/pseuds/Yami_Kada7
Summary: Den City High is scheduled to compete against several other high schools from across the country in a duel monsters tournament. He has no idea how, but Yusaku ended up being chosen as the representative for his school. He just hopes that he can survive the other duelists…I am taking character suggestions! More information available in the notes!The cameos have begun to appear!





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is going to be longer! I just... don't have time to finish it right now.  
> Sorry, this week has been crazy!  
> Anyways, I hope you enjoy the first part of this story!

“I have a special announcement to make! Our school was chosen to be part of a national tournament made up of randomly selected high schools from around the country! The school has also given us, the Duel Club, the task of choosing our school’s representative!” Hosoda looked extremely excited.

Shima jumped up, clapping his hands. “Awesome! So then Pres, how’re we gonna choose who to go? Do we take a vote? Because my vote is for me!” He pumped his fist into the air.

Yusaku shrank back, trying to disappear into the corner of the room. So that was the reason attendance today had been mandatory. Not that he was going to come anyways, but Shima had seen fit to drag him along when he spotted Yusaku leaving for the day.

Hosoda calmed Shima down enough to get him to sit down, then went on. “To answer your question, Shima, we won’t be taking a vote, but I have a great way to choose who to represent our group!” He reached beneath the front desk, bringing out a box with a hole in the top. 

“We will each write our names on a slip of paper, then get a random person from another club to draw one out. That way, it is completely fair.” Hosoda pointedly ignored Shima’s whining as he looked out over the rest of the small group. “What do you all think? Sound good?”

Yusaku tried to ignore the way his stomach dropped. He was sure that nothing bad was going to happen. Around the room, Tanaka, Sato, Suzuki, Zaizen-san and Takeru all gave the all clear for the plan. Then his eyes settled on Yusaku.

Well that was a surprise. Yusaku hardly ever showed up to a single meeting, should he really get so much as a say the one time he was dragged along? Nevertheless, he nodded. “Sounds like a fair option.”

Still ignoring Shima, the rest of the club began writing out their names and folded up their slips. Yusaku made no move to write his name down; it would be unfair, after all. Takeru frowned at him when he saw that he wasn’t participating, but seemed to dismiss it in favor of encouraging Shima to write his own name down.

Shima wrote out his slip, then twisted around to glance at Yusaku. He frowned as well, once he saw no paper in front of him. He turned back to his seat and scribbled out something else, giving Takeru a thumbs-up. 

Oh no.

* * *

Hosoda led the group out of the room, greeting the first student he saw. He was asking them to draw the name, but Yusaku was too busy glaring down Takeru and Shima to pay much attention. If they had done what he thought they did, he would infect both of their duel disks with a virus that would leave them unusable for a month. 

“And the representative is: Fujiki Yusaku!” the rest of the group was giving him polite congratulations, but he was reeling.

“Wait, Hosoda-san, I didn't even fill out a slip. There must be some mistake.” He silenced the rest.

Hosoda blinked, “Why wouldn't you fill out a slip, Fujiki?”

Yusaku scratched the back of his neck. “One: I don't really have the time to participate in a tournament right now, two: I hardly ever attend club meetings, and three: I'm not that good of a duelist. It seemed more fair to everyone else if I didn't represent our school.”

He glanced at the group once he was done and couldn't help but blink. They were all giving him looks that he couldn't read. Was that a good thing or a bad thing?

Hosoda placed his hand on Yusaku’s shoulder. “Fujiki-kun, to be willing to give up such an incredible opportunity so that others would have a greater chance to participate, really, it is touching to hear.” Was he going to get out of this? It sounded like Hosoda might let him out of it. “I couldn't imagine having anyone else for our representative!”

Wait, what?

“But, Hosoda-san-”

“No, no! I won't hear it! You might not be the best duelist our club has to offer, but we have a month before the tournament begins. We'll help you train, so there's nothing to worry about!” Hosoda patted him on the back. “Good luck, Fujiki-kun”

* * *

Takeru shifted under his glare. Good. The  _ idiot _ .

“Takeru, what exactly were you thinking?” Yusaku asked.

Takeru's shoulders withdrew into his frame, trying to make himself a smaller target. “Well, I, um, I just thought that it was unlikely that you would be chosen, so, why not? A-and you're good at convincing people, so I thought that even if your name was drawn, that you’d be able to get out of it!” He hazarded a glance up at Yusaku, and whatever he found made him duck back down. “Sorry, Yusaku. Shima and I should never have put your name in without your permission.”

Yusaku supposed that was good enough. He sat down across from Takeru at a picnic table near Café Nagi. “It's alright, let's focus on figuring out the problem.”

Takeru startled, before a smile tugged up his lips. “Sure! So, I was thinking, we could fake you getting badly injured, then there's no way they'll make you compete! I know a great way to break a bone cleanly, so there's no need to worry about a messy reset. What do you think?”

Yusaku stared at him for a good minute. “I was actually asking what should be done about my deck. My real one is very recognizable.”

Silence sat between them for a while.

“Huh, I didn’t think about that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to warn everyone, I've never written a duel before, so unless I can get one of my friends to help me, they are going to be a bit vague until I get the hang of it.  
> Please let me know what you think of this so far!
> 
> Please see the notes at the end of the second chapter for details regarding character cameo requests!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a little bit farther to go before we reach the tournament proper, but first comes this!

Yusaku paced around his apartment, chin in hand. There was a narrow variety of options open to him.

First, he could participate in the tournament, revealing who he was and endangering the rest of the team. Not an option, he didn’t feel like getting arrested in the foreseeable future.

Second, he could decline the position and have Hosoda choose someone else. Not an option either, given that his name had already been submitted by the club president while his protests were ignored, and declining now would mean that he would forfeit. Just the thought of Shima’s complaining threw that out the window.

Third, he could take up Takeru’s offer. But he didn’t have enough saved up to safely deal with the medical costs associated with that option, so he brushed it aside.

He paced for a while longer, until Ai started complaining about being bored and he realized that his carpet was looking rather worn. 

Maybe a bite to eat would do him some good. 

He made his way to his kitchen, opening the small refrigerator. It was pitifully empty, a small container of takeout, the only thing that wasn’t liquid, was sitting on the top shelf.

He grabbed it, making his way to the microwave to reheat the food. He popped open the lid, peering down into the contents.

… Was it supposed to look so fuzzy?

He settled for a glass of juice, after checking the label to make sure that it wasn’t expired. He gulped it down, then took his time washing out the cup, setting it back in the cabinet after working it clean.

Now what? He still didn’t have any ideas, so he was left to wander. Not a problem, he’d been meaning to do some cleaning for a while, after all. 

He made his way down the hall, opening the door to his room. The sun shone in through the window, illuminating the spotless space. Right, Roboppy.

Without any other ideas, he plucked a random book off of the shelf and sat down in his chair to read it. He spent a few minutes turning the pages, his mind racing too fast to process the words.

Eventually, he gave up, and tossed the volume onto the desk in front of him, bringing his hands up to rub his temples. What was he going to do?

His eyes stared at nothing, wandering over the different aspects of his room before they landed on the drawer to his desk and stopped. Why hadn’t he thought of that before? 

Yusaku had the drawer open and the old cards in his hand before he even recognized that he was moving. He fanned them out, staring at the familiar monsters and running his fingers over the card effects.

This could work. It wasn’t his fake deck that he showed to the club before, but it was also not his current deck, and was therefore unknown to the general public. Plus he still knew the cards like the back of his hand.

Mind made up, he stood, walking out to grab Ai before leaving the apartment. He still had a bit more planning to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special stuff for those of you who choose to comment!  
> All commenters who give thoughtful feedback get to request 1-2 characters from other yugioh series to appear! No main protagonists, please, but just about anyone else is fair game!
> 
> This chapter was beta'd by FlameShade!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The tournament is drawing closer, and there is a lot left to do...

Kusanagi-san might not have been the best duelist, but given that Yusaku wasn’t talking to Takeru at the moment, he and Ai were the only ones he could turn to for help. They had spent hours going over the cards, and Yusaku was fairly confident that he had a few solid strategies that he could make use of against his opponents.

Now he was sitting outside Cafe Nagi, hot dog in hand and cards safely stashed away, tuning out Ai’s ramblings and Kusanagi-san’s commentary. He focused on the thinning crowd and steered his thoughts away from the looming storm in the back of his mind. It would do no good to dwell on it, after all it wasn’t like he could win the tournament without drawing a lot of unwanted attention.

It would be a lot better to put up a small fight, then go down in the early rounds.

A lot better.

* * *

Hosoda was holding his hand out expectantly. “Well, what are you waiting for? We all know that your deck-… isn’t the best… so we’re just going to help you go over the cards and possibly suggest some changes, Fujiki-kun.” His smile seemed genuine enough. “After all, we want you to be able to do the best that you can this weekend.”

Yusaku kept still, studying the club president before glancing over the rest of the group. They all seemed honest enough. He reached into his pocket, and placed his old deck in Hosoda’s waiting palm. The other boy grinned, immediately moving over to the table at the front of the room to spread out the cards.

His eyebrows shot up when he saw them, and the others also seemed just as surprised.

“Fujiki-kun, have you already been going over your cards to prepare? Well done! This looks like a very balanced deck.” Hosoda clapped his hands together and moved to the whiteboard, uncapping a marker. “Let’s discuss some of the possible strategies that you have here…”

* * *

The group dispersed, heading out the doors of the clubroom to go home for the evening. It had been fairly productive for the rest of the members, although it was mostly review for Yusaku. The most interesting part was when Naoki started complaining about the lower level monsters, attempting to persuade him to leave them all out in favor of higher levels and attack points. He had thought of smiling when the rest of the club enthusiastically put down the suggestion as loudly as possible.

He gathered up his cards, placing them in his bag and swinging the whole thing over his shoulder. He wondered if Kusanagi-san had any new leads, maybe he should stop by the truck before he went home?

Yusaku was so distracted, he didn’t even notice that Zaizen-san was standing in the hallway until he had almost bumped into her. “My apologies.” He quickly sidestepped and continued on towards the door.

For some reason, she fell into step beside him. “You adjusted your deck pretty quickly, Fujiki-kun. I didn’t even recognize it when I saw it today.” The question was light, but he couldn’t take any chances.

“I had help from an acquaintance of mine, we worked through different strategies the other day. Today was mostly review of what he told me about at that time.” His pace was steady, a metronome of heels hitting the hard floor with the tap of toes close behind.

Her steps faltered, skipped, caught up to his own. “Oh really? Well I guess it’s a good thing that you had that person to help you, then.” Why was Zaizen-san so caught off guard? Just because he wasn’t the most enthusiastic about the whole thing didn’t mean that he would let himself be trampled on by the other competitors.

The storm was brewing at the back of his mind again. “I know that I have next to no chance of winning, but I am fairly certain that I will get past the first round.” He shrugged, hoping that the motion was not as robotic as the creaking of his bones made it feel.

She bought into it. “You’ll still do fine, even if you don’t win it’s not a big deal.” She waved her hand through the air. “It’s not like it’ll be the end of the world if you lose.”

They left it at that, continuing down the hallway and parting at the gates. The walk home was uneventful, his feet carrying him past the turn to the truck’s usual plaza and straight to his apartment building.

The stairs were steep, the toes of his shoes kept catching on the edges of them, and he had to keep catching himself. And his keys didn’t seem to be working, it took several tries to fit the right one in the lock and turn it.

But then the door was closed behind him and his knees hit the ground in the entryway, his fingers coming up to tangle in his hair as his bag laid at his feet. The storm was roaring now, nothing to keep the shadow of the clouds at bay.

He needed something - anything - what was there that needed doing, he had to think of something else. It was so dark, so dark and there wasn’t any air - he could feel the clawing at his insides and he needed-

_Three things. Just think of three things._

First, breathe. Take in air, hold it - count to three - let it out, easy, _count_ , repeat. He sat hunched, taking deep breaths until his grip on his scalp loosened and his eyes could focus on his surroundings.

Second, focus. Run through the options. The safety of the others involved was the top priority, he couldn’t draw too much attention or else attention would be drawn to them, endangering the mission.

Third, conclude. He had to lose. He could put it off, but he had to lose. If anything went badly, he’d just get out of there immediately. As long as no one saw him react, he should be fine.

He would be fine.

He had to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> COMMENTER REWARDS: If you leave a thoughtful comment on what you think of this story, you get to request a character from any one of the other series (main protagonists excluded) to appear in the upcoming chapters! The cameos will be starting as of next chapter, so please send me your favorites! I want to include as many awesome characters as possible!
> 
> Many thanks to FlameShade for being an awesome beta!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The tournament is about to begin! to gear up for the main event, we have our first set of cameos here to throw into the mix!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place on the opening day of the tournament, which, being such a huge event, the actual dueling will start the following day. Or for all that you as readers care about, the dueling will start next chapter.  
> I'm using the original names for the characters, so I suggest that if you are not familiar with them then you go look them up now!

Kusanagi-san handed Yusaku his apron, patting the boy on the back. “Alright! I’ll be right back, just take care of things here while I’m gone, okay?”

Yusaku nodded, slipping the canvas over his head and reaching behind himself to fumble a knot together. “Got it. But if you aren’t back in time then I’m closing up shop to go.”

Kusanagi-san only laughed at his glare, reaching out to ruffle his hair. “I’ll be back with plenty of time to spare, can’t have all of the customers running away from you for too long!” With that, the man left towards the stores in the distance, waving over his shoulder.

Yusaku didn’t bother to wave back, hauling himself into the truck and stepping behind the grill. He let his body go through the motions of opening up shop, mind running a thousand miles a minute and gaze pointedly steered away from the AI giggling madly in the corner.

Unfortunately, it seemed like Ai wasn’t going to let him off easily today. “Yusaku-chan, are you nervous? Just a few more hours until the tournament starts! It’s so exciting!” If the annoyance could leap out of the duel disk, Yusaku was sure that he would do so now and dance across the counter.

He kept his gaze cold as he redirected to focus on the AI. “Shut up.” He turned back to the cabinet in front of him, unloading ingredients.

“Aw, Yusaku-chan! That isn’t very nice! And I’m only trying to loosen you up before your first big duel, how cruel of you to put down your friend like that.” And now the tiny purple figure was pouting. As if it would do something to help his case.

Yusaku grabbed a signboard from on top of the shelves. Before the other could protest, he secured the hanging sign from the disk. “If you insist on helping me, then go out and advertise. Fly around the stadium and make sure that you don’t get caught in the process.”

Ai kept squacking as he turned back to the preparations to finish everything up. A few touches here and there and he was opening the front window, straining one arm out to flip the sign on the side of the truck from closed to open.

Ai flew past, still pouting but blessedly silent and only a discreet eye in the center of the disk. The yellow rectangle below him grew smaller as he, for once, did as instructed and made for where the sidewalk surrounding the massive dueling complex curved out of sight.

* * *

The sun was high in the sky, many customers had come and gone, and Kusanagi-san was nowhere to be seen. Yusaku was seriously considering just shutting down the truck and leaving, but he still had some time until the opening ceremony started. As long as Ai showed up in time, then it should all be alright.

He turned over the hotdogs on the grill, tuning out the commotion in the plaza. The crowd was getting thicker by the minute, but for once he had managed to get the line down. All of his shifts must have been paying off.

Of course, the silence couldn’t last long. “Hey! Can I get six hotdogs with everything on them? Ooh, and an extra large soda too! Hey Ruka, are you getting anything?” Yusaku glanced over at the voice, then leaned over the counter to catch a glimpse of the child standing there. The boy grinned up at him.

“Rua! You can’t possibly expect to eat all of that.” A girl who looked very similar to the boy walked up to the truck. She sighed, turning to Yusaku. “I’m sorry about him. I’ll have the tea, please, and he will have _one_ hot dog and a medium soda.”

The boy turned to his sister “What are you talking about Ruka? Of course I can eat it all! My stomach can handle anything!” The boy, Rua, slapped his hand against his chest. He whirled back to face Yusaku. “I’ll have six hot dogs and an extra large soda, and Ruka here will have her icky tea.”

Yusaku could only raise an eyebrow at the commotion. He glanced between the two of them, trying to figure out which order would be safer to follow through on.

A pair of heels clicked over to the counter, and a young woman with red hair placed her hands on the children’s shoulders. “Come on you two, don’t fight. Rua, we can always come back later if you want another hot dog.” The young woman in red turned to nod to Yusaku. “I’ll have a coffee as well, please.”

At least the question of the order was answered. Ignoring the boy’s whine of “Aki! No fair!” Yusaku quickly prepared the two ladies’ drinks and set them beneath the warming light, and quickly dished out the hot dog, piling on the toppings as the boy had requested. Then he leaned over the counter again to the children. “What kind of soda would you like? We have pepsi products, lemonade, sprite…”

The boy’s eyebrows jumped, then scrunched together as he debated what would be best. “I’ll take the sprite!” Rua thrust one hand up into the air as he spoke.

Ruka facepalmed. Yusaku wanted to as well, but the customers might leave and he couldn’t have that. He addressed the two sane ones. “Would you like any cream and sugar with your drinks?”

They both gave an affirmative.

Yusaku nodded, filling up the cup of sprite and scooping up a few packets of creamer and sugar. “Enjoy your food.” He said, handing the load off to the trio.

The young woman passed him the necessary amount, and the group turned to head to the stadium.

That should have been the end of that, but Ruka had stopped, turning her cup of tea in her hands. “Is this reusable? Or at least recyclable?”

He was surprised that she noticed that the cups weren’t normal plastic. “They’re both, these cups are a new item that we’re test-running.”

She smiled at that. “That’s good, I’d hate for it to go to waste.” She gave a small bow. “Have a nice day!” And then she was running off to catch up with the other two.

* * *

“I see that the truck is still standing!”

Yusaku looked up from the grill and raised an eyebrow at the other. Kusanagi-san was loaded down with bags, mostly more ingredients if the scant amount poking out of the top was any indication.

“And just where have you been? It’s almost time for the opening ceremony to start.” Yusaku was already lifting his apron over his head and snagging his school jacket and tie as he spoke, walking to the door and grabbing two of the bags so that the man could haul himself into the truck.

Kusanagi-san shrugged. “Sorry, sorry. It took a bit longer to find what I was looking for than I expected.” He gestured around the van. “Things look fine here though! Just get going. I’ll take it from here.”

Yusaku walked over to the hidden computer, fingers brushing over a few buttons. “I can’t leave quite yet, I need my duel disk to show my participant ID at the gate. And that requires Ai.”

He stepped out of the truck “I’ll just wait out here until he shows up.” He took the time to roll down his sleeves, fasten his tie, and slip into his school jacket.

A whirring sound overhead brought their attention to the air as a signboard advertising their wares careened into view, arriving in front of them in a flash. Yusaku untied the sign from the duel disk and the drone clicked into place around his forearm. He handed the sign off to Kusanagi-san and turned to the stadium, raising a hand in acknowledgement of the “Good luck!” that was shouted after him.

He’d need it, even if he wouldn’t let anyone know that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am still taking character suggestions! Just leave a little feedback, let me know what I did horribly wrong, what parts you liked, etcetera, and you get to request 1-2 characters to appear in the story! This offer ends after the next chapter, so please leave me any non-main-protag characters that you would like to see!
> 
> This chapter was beta read by FlameShade!
> 
> The cameos this chapter were requested by Kiri_Kaitou_Clover and PipeDreamPrayer, I hope you guys liked them! I added in Rua myself because I love the dynamics that the siblings have. Whoops.
> 
> It has been a while since I have seen 5D's, so if their characterizations are off at all please let me know! Or really just let me know about anything that could use tweaking.

**Author's Note:**

> Just to warn everyone, I've never written a duel before, so unless I can get one of my friends to help me, they are going to be a bit vague until I get the hang of it.  
> Please let me know what you think of this so far!


End file.
